Browser Battle: Nine Browsers of Today and Tomorrow Compared

Setting the Standard(s Support)

Internet ExplorerMicrosoft not only set out to improve standards support with IE8, but because so much of the web has been coded with previous versions of IE in mind, Microsoft also had to focus on backwards compatibility. No easy task, IE8 does finally pass the Acid2 test, which is a test designed by The Web Standards Project (WaSP) to expose any flaws in how a browser renders properly coded webpages, but scores only a 20 out of a possible 100 on the newer, and much more stringent, Acid3 test.

By comparison, IE7's Acid2 results look like a bad acid trip gone even badder (to pass the test, a browser must properly render a smiley face graphic), and scores a miserable 12 out of 100 on the Acid3 exam. In this respect, IE8 signifies a huge improvement over IE7 in standards compliance, but it still lags behind every other major browser on the market.

Putting IE8's struggles with Acid3 aside, Microsoft made enough changes under the hood to essentially 'break the web.' In other words, existing websites developed with legacy IE behavior in mind might have trouble rendering properly on a more standards-compliant browser. To combat this, Microsoft built a Compatibility View feature into IE8. For popular websites Microsoft has already identified as being coded for previous versions of IE (including Microsoft.com), Compatibility View kicks in without any user intervention. For all other sites, the end-user can click the Compatibility View button located on the toolbar to manually force IE8 to emulate IE7. While this may seem like a kludge, the alternative was to let the web fend for itself, a sticky proposition given IE's dominant market share.

FirefoxOne of Firefox's claims to fame is that it has always been much more standards compliant than Internet Explorer. HTML, XML, XHTML, SVG 1.1, CSS, ECMAScript, DOM, PNG images with transparency, and several other web standards have been implemented in Firefox, and support has gotten even better in version 3.1. The latest build scores 93/100 on the Acid3 test, putting it far ahead of IE8, but still trailing Opera and now Safari as well.

Perhaps deserving of more buzz than its getting is Firefox 3.1's support for the CSS @font-face rule. With this ability, web developers have the option of specifying web fonts that must be downloaded for their website to appear as they intended. To prevent any delays from occurring, Firefox will first render the web page using available fonts, and then update the display as soon as the missing fonts are downloaded.

Opera

One of the first browsers to support Cascading Style Sheets, the Opera browser has since added a plethora of open and published standards to its repertoire. Opera was also the first Windows browser to pass the Acid2 test, and if that weren't enough, Opera was one of the first to score a perfect 100 on the Acid3 test (a case could be made that Safari 4 beat Opera to the punch, but we're content to call it a draw).

Like Firefox 3.1, Opera 10 adds web font support. The latest version also boasts improved HTML5 support and a host of other developer-friendly additions, which so far appears to be the major focus of Opera 10.

Chrome

In theory, Google's Chrome browser should have an advantage right out of the gate. Google says that within 20-30 minutes of each new browser build, it can be tested on tens of thousands of different web pages because of Google's massive web crawling infrastructure. In reality, Chrome really is a fairly standards compliant browser, scoring a 79/100 on Acid3 test, enough to come out on top of IE7 and Firefox 3.

Safari

Given that Apple gave birth to the WebKit rendering engine forked KTHML (from the Konqueror browser) for Webkit, it would make sense the company knows best how to rev it up. Not only in terms of speed, but also in following the rules of the road. So it shouldn't be too surprising to see Safari 4 surf through the Acid3 test with a perfect 100/100, whereas Google's WebKit-based Chrome trails behind.

Like Firefox 3.1, Safari 4 implements support for HTML 5 media tags. This paves the way for web developers to offer audio and video content right inside the browser without requiring plugins.

Comments

Just typed in "Maxiumumpc" and hit enter. Went right to the website. Been using Opera for years - its just so polished and well thought out. The "issues" it has with some websites are slowly getting ironed out, but are frustrating enough I split my time between it and Firefox.

There is a dropdown menu that allows you to Identify as Opera, Firefox, or IE, and unlike firefox, you don't need IE installed to use it, aka Linux. I have not had a problem with any sites that say they don't recognize my browser by simply changing that to Firefox (or IE for IE Specific sites). Check out autotrader.com and see for yourself and get that slow browser off your system :)

I hope modern browsers will FORCE IE to be more..well..modern :) especially for webdevelopers and designer. If we can escape hacking CSS for the sake of internet explorer then this will be almost like going to heaven.

One of the biggest things that keeps me loyal to Firefox is that when you type just a name of a site like maximumpc in the address bar without a .com or http or anything, just maximumpc and hit enter, it goes straight to maximumpc. It doesn't go to the results of a search a la windows live search or google, it just goes straight to the page itself. I find this to be very useful and a noteable feature not available in ohter browsers as far as I know. Firefox ftw!